At 11:30 last night, the SC House and Senate passed H. 3245, the Two Trip Ultrasound Mandate. The final version of the bill has been converted into a women’s rights bill, and therefore passed with our support.

The final version of H. 3245 eliminated the two trips initially required by the House version, and instead, allows women to access a series of information about healthcare and medical options from numerous sources. These include private physicians, local clinics, and the Department of Health website.

The approved bill is also significant because it does not contain any form of ultrasound requirement, nor does it mandate that women visit medical facilities more than once. These proposals were huge burdens for women throughout the state, and we removed after heavy pressure from health advocacy groups and our Tell Them members.

This is the only bill on our issues that passed the SC Legislature during the 2009-2010 legislative session (13 were proposed) – and it was only passed after tremendous pressure to remove most of the restrictive language. In fact, supporters of our proposed compromise language were such a strong force that this bill actually expands women’s access to medical information.

This is a huge victory for Tell Them and our supporters. This win has been 2 years in the making, and your support and effort made this possible. Thank you for all your hard work.

The Conference Committee on H. 3245- The Two Trip Ultrasound Requirement Bill DID NOT reach a compromise this morning.

This makes it very unlikely that this bill will pass this legislative session.

This morning, Senator Bryant offered 4 new options and potential compromises in an attempt to get something passed. They included keeping the 1-hour waiting period for cases of rape, incest and ‘medical necessity;” allowing an ultrasound to be performed at a different facility at least 24 hours in advance, and requiring the doctor to report which waiting period applied to each procedure, requiring a 36-hour requirement.

Representative Delleny opposed all of them. The other house and Senate members supported certain options, but in the end, no compromise was agreed upon.

This is a huge victory for the Tell Them network. We have been fighting this bill for almost 2 years, and it’s because of YOUR hard work, emails, phone calls, appearances at hearings, comments on Facebook, retweets from Twitter, letters to the editor and group conversations that we have been so successful.

THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING! Your voices have spoken, and your efforts have paid off.

We will know for sure tomorrow at 5pm whether or not this bill is dead. Keep your eyes open- we’ll send out an update!

This morning, the Conference Committee met to discuss H. 3245- the Two Trip Ultrasound Requirement Bill. Chairman Bryant informed the committee that the Senate and House Attorneys were trying to find a compromise between the two bills, and until that time, the Conference Committee would be in recess.

The Committee agreed that they would be willing to resume discussions after the session adjourns on June 3rd in order to pass  this bill. The rules state that a Conference Committee may meet during the period in which vetoes are being voted upon (June 4 – 15). 

Tell Them member Elizabeth Fort wrote a phenomenal Letter to the Editor on the Two Trip Ultrasound Requirement Bill that was published in the Spartanburg Herald Journal this weekend. Click here to read her letter.

We’ll keep you updated as the session comes to a close.

The conference Committee met yesterday on H. 3245- The Ultrasound Two Trip Requirement Bill. This first meeting was meant to “vent frustrations” and get a sense of where the challenges were in finding common ground.

The legislators began by reviewing each section of the bill, but soon found that little progress was going to be made.

Chairman Bryant was doing his best to stick to procedure, and tried to keep the proceedings on track. Representative Delleny chose to focus on the differences and seemed to be “looking for a fight.”

Senators Knotts and Hutto held their ground and urged the committee to accept the Senate language, while also looking for ways to begin discussions and find out what the true conflicting pieces were. According to the South Carolina Coalition for Healthy Families, “Senator Knotts’ main concern was the implication H.3245 will have on victims of rape and incest. He was adamant with his displeasure in the government making decisions for a women after she has gone through a traumatic experience.” 

All in all, it seems like this discussion will not have a fast ending. And while some of our representatives have heard us through more than 100 emails they have each received (thank you Tell Them members for taking action), clearly some haven’t gotten the message.

Click here to join Tell Them members and  tell the Conference Committee to accept the Senate Bill language on H. 3245.

Yesterday, the South Carolina House of Representatives sent H. 3245, the Ultrasound Two Trip Requirement Bill.

Representative Delleney, the original sponsor of the bill, urged House members to reject the Senate’s compromise language. They agreed with him, and voted 71-16 to not pass the bill.

What happens now?

The leadership from both the House and the Senate will appoint members to a conference committee so that they can work out a compromise between the two versions of the bill.

We will continue to update you as we learn more.

Click here to read the Tell Them legislative fact sheet about H. 3245- the Ultrasound Two-Trip Requirement Bill